Coffee originated in the east African highlands in the 6th century. It was then brought to Arabia, where people used it as food and medicine. During the 11th century, the first coffee drinks came up. In the 16th and 17th centuries coffee became widely popular in Europe when the Turks brought it to Central Europe. In the 17th and 18th century, coffee conquered North and South America.

Coffee houses soon became popular all over the world. In the 1900s, chains of coffee shops emerged in Europe and America. Today, Starbucks is the largest coffee house chain in the world, with over 20,000 stores in 60 countries.


First Starbucks opened in 1971 in Seattle, Washington
Image: SilentDeath, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons